Arena native Alex Harrington to become chief meteorologist
Katie Green, Columnist
We usually associate the title “Alexander the Great” with Alexander III of the Greek kingdom of Macedonia, one of history’s most successful military commanders, who built a vast empire three hundred years before the Christian era. He established more than twenty cities, the most famous of which was Alexandria, Egypt. He was not a modest man, naming many of them for himself. His military tactics (clever but brutal) are said to be admired and studied today. When you look around at all the empire-builders around the world, our own country being no exception, it is not hard to believe that Alexander III was and is an exemplar to some. One of his tutors when he was young was Aristotle, who failed to convince Alexander to stay home and be content to be philosophical, live and let live with his neighbors. It must be a guy thing. It might have enabled him to live longer. To his foes’ relief, he died at age 33 and his empire speedily fell apart.
The Alexander the Great’s empire I am more interested in, however, is that of meteorologist Alex Harrington, born and raised in Arena to a family deeply rooted in the River Valley, often involved in education. His mother, Joannie, was a secretary in Arena at the public grammar school he himself attended, his sister has taught in the schools for close two decades. Alex attended Middle School and High School in Spring Green. His grandmother Harrington still lives on her own in Arena at age 100. He was raised Catholic and although he didn’t attend parochial school, the family’s religious precepts provided a North Star and have provided the framework for his life purpose. His personal great “moment” has arrived: he has landed the job of Chief Meteorologist for Madison’s CBS affiliate WISC-TV Channel 3000 and Madison’s Fox affiliate WMSN-TV Fox47 starting in March, when longtime chief meteorologist Gary Cannalte formally retires. Quite the feat! Before the last couple years, Alex had been off the air in his chosen field for ten years, last working in Kansas—a place with spectacular weather of the terrifying, ill-natured sort—and was overjoyed to return home to Wisconsin.
Alex’s interest in weather began at an extremely tender age. His sister Amery was besotted with the film “Wizard of OZ.” She wanted to be Dorothy, he wanted to be the tornado! By the age of five he was giving weather reports to the family in their living room, brandishing hand-drawn charts.
Soon these were laminated to look more professional. The Harrington children were growing up on the Tim and Steve Harrington family farm in rural Arena, deeply immersed in the healthy pleasures of pastoral life, so that when Dorothy gets back to OZ saying “There’s no place like home!”, Alex and his sister could second that feeling enthusiastically. He was like the young Bach or Mozart, a child prodigy who accepted almost from birth where the yellow brick road would inevitably take him.
When I told Alex about the storm spotters who sat on our ridge when we lived in rural Spring Green, he said “I could talk about that all day. I’ve been a storm chaser since I was 18.” Later, when he worked as a TV meteorologist in Kansas in a high-action tornado alley, he often chased storms – from a safe distance. Careless storm chasers can get in serious trouble, even lose their lives. He took no huge chances but enjoyed the frisson of fear that one naturally gets when seeing a funnel cloud moving toward you, like a devil on the loose.
A few years after Alex started tornado spotting in Sauk County, he became a guide at Taliesin, touring people through the School of Architecture (before it was cast out). It was a perfect job for a mature college student in the River Valley with good stage presence. He is a tall, slender fellow, with a sparkling set of choppers that give him a lovely smile “thanks to Village Family Dental”, and a rambunctious head of dark hair that doesn’t want to behave. Needing to wear glasses, he has taken to wearing spectacles with wild colored frames as his special signature. Depending on the season and the weather he wears red frames for summery hot, blue for wintry cold, green for balmy spring, yellow or orange for autumn.
Recently, when he made an appearance at St. Luke’s parochial school in Plain and at the Early Childhood Learning Center “to introduce the next generation of children to meteorology”, two of the things Alex led them in was making weather charts and their own paper glasses with colored frames of their choosing. You can bet the kids will remember that informative and fun day. He is what is called an “influencer” these days, for children and adults alike.
Since returning to Wisconsin from Kansas and waiting for his dream job “moment”, Alex has put together “a potpourri of skills – I try to adapt.” He is a consultant at UW Health, and teaches a business course at Edgewood College, as well as appearing at schools. It all adds up to an income. When I asked if he had a partner he said, “I’m too busy to date.” Instead, he adopted a German Shepherd mix, a rescue animal, whom he named “Loki”, after the Norse God of Mischief. “He’s very spoiled in his eating preferences but has sparky energy and a great personality.” The latter traits like Alex himself. People know who he is and recognize him on the street even if they are not acquainted. It is his fifteen minutes of fame, as the saying is.
“The River Valley has supported me in my life-long dream,” he tells me. Commendations are now coming in from around the community to nominate him “Best of Madison” in the category of television personalities based on past performance, even before he starts the new position. Definitely a prestigious honor. Many farm boys such as he was are content to stay on the farm, which is honorable, too, and can be rewarding, even magical at times, but he thinks of it as “epic” that he has traveled out and beyond the farm, even been nominated for top ranking in such a public arena (pun intended.)
Summing up his rather eccentric life purpose, he says, “I aim to inspire people to do what makes them happiest.” He sees that “Everything I’ve experienced has built me for this moment. It didn’t happen overnight.” In fact, it took years and never wavering from a goal he set at age four. Alex, may your empire and influence increase as you grow in age and wisdom. You do your hometown proud.
Katie, who until recently lived in Plain, has been writing for fun and profit since childhood. Self-described as opinionated, she writes in the interests of a more loving, better-functioning world for all. She may be reached at katiewgreen@icloud.com.
